The opening of Newark Liberty airport’s new Terminal A Thursday morning hit some speed bumps when a security check point was “breached” by two unscreened passengers and an early morning blackout left the new building without power, Port Authority officials said.
The problems included “a couple of security breaches on some folks who wanted to bypass the (security) check-in, which caused a little bit of a slowdown,” said Kevin O’Toole, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey board chairman. “We had a power outage that caused a significant delay. We had two security breaches where everything had to be shut down.”
TSA officials apprehended the individuals and screened them, and the incident did not result in the terminal being evacuated, he said. However, it did result in long lines of passengers waiting to be screened that continued into the early morning.
Port Authority officials referred questions to the TSA for details about the breach. The TSA did not immediately respond to an email about the incidents.
The power outage this morning only affected the TSA and was caused by a piece of equipment that malfunctioned, said Tom Pietrykoski, a Port Authority spokesman. Power was lost at 5:18 a.m. and restored by 7 a.m. once that piece of equipment was removed, repaired, and replaced, he said.
“Available staffing also played a role in this morning’s (security) delay,” Pietrykoski said. “We will be working with our partners at TSA in the days and weeks ahead to ensure that the security checkpoints at all of Newark Liberty’s terminals are adequately staffed to meet the expected passenger volumes.”
Moving operating from the old to the new terminal was a “huge, massive effort that started at midnight,” O’Toole said.
“When you start a new operation there are challenges,” said Huntley Lawrence, Port Authority chief operating officer. “These were some challenges, all of which are being addressed.”
The new 1-million square-foot, $2.7 billion terminal replaced the 50-year-old Terminal A that opened in 1973. Opening of the new Terminal A had been pushed back from Dec. 8 due to issues with security and fire alarm systems.
©2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit nj.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
